Exercise is typically done on a horizontally based surface, for example the ground, floor, seat or bench, done standing or seated, and using weights or resistance machines. These methods are very limiting as they are completely dependent on voluntary activation and recruitment of muscles to do the movement required of a particular exercise. Humans are horizontal animals and designed to balance and move through balance supported and stabilized by a horizontal surface or resistant force.
Because we are designed to balance and move on the horizontal plane, we are neurologically comfortable doing it, and function in the parasympathetic nervous system when moving or exercising normally. Equilibrium is autonomic and sustained constantly with very little effort or thought, as muscles extend and contract reflexively if equilibrium is threatened to quickly reestablish equilibrium. Horizontal exercise and movements all require the body to be supported against gravity forces pulling us straight down toward the earth and equilibrium can be comfortably achieved with as little as one foot or hand being located directly under the body's center of balance (torso), and further stabilized with more than one foot or hand, or both, or all. The position of the torso over or between the horizontal supports or props is the primary determining factor for attaining equilibrium.
That being said, horizontal stability, equilibrium, can be recognized by the inner ear and autonomic nervous system by having the horizontal support being directly under the torso, or the torso between the two of more supports, in such a manner like the seat of a chair or bench in contact with the glutes or buttocks, or under the back or chest or side if you are laying down flat, or both the buttocks and the back if seated at an incline. The upward forces of buoyancy when in the water produce horizontal support, and with the addition of the surrounding pressure of the water around the body, it literally takes less muscle activation and recruitment to acquire recognizable horizontal stability than standing on the ground. Exercises such as body weight pull-ups also fall under the category of horizontal exercise, as all the resistant forces to the body are moving upward from directly below the torso, and the direction of fall the body is experiencing is straight down with no angular forces applied and recognized by the nervous system.
If when doing pull-ups you simply let go, the body will fall uninterrupted straight down to the floor or next horizontal support. While hanging on to the bar when doing pull-ups, the bar is providing a horizontal support force that is directly above the torso giving the same stimuli to the inner ear as if the support force was directly under the torso, and because this follows the rules of equilibrium the body stays in the parasympathetic nervous system during the exercise. The body is used to momentary threats to equilibrium, and autonomically responds to them to regain equilibrium by extending or contracting the few muscles it requires to recruit to reposition the torso into balance. The body's response is normal and comfortable, and the body does all its normal responses to momentary threats to equilibrium within the parasympathetic nervous system regardless to how physically intense the stimuli or response may be.
Horizontal movements and exercises, including swimming, require and are limited to only 1 to 10 muscles to be activated and recruited on any one side of the body to perform and control the movement while maintaining equilibrium. With one of the largest objectives to exercising being weight/fat loss, and having only 10 of over 600 motor movement muscles in the body recruited, horizontal exercise is not very efficient for consuming calories very quickly. This requires a person to exercise for long periods of time each day to lose a minimal amount of fat if measured in kcals per minute.
Muscle being the major consumer of kcals per minute, the more muscles being activated and recruited at the same time the more kcals will be consumed. For example, if you weigh 140 pounds, have an average body mass index, and exercise recruiting 10 muscles simultaneously at 85% of your max heart rate, and each muscle averaged 0.001 kcal per minute of caloric consumption, at best on the horizontal based exercise you would consume 10 calories per minute, 100 calories per 10 minutes of exercise, or 600 calories per hour.
This is not to say that at 85% of your max heart rate during exercise you will burn 100 calories in 10 minutes, because the real determining factor is how many muscles are being recruited during the exercise. For example, if you do an exercise that recruits only 3 muscles simultaneously at 85% max heart rate, you will only consume 30 calories in 10 minutes respectively. The heart supplies blood with glucose and oxygen to burn to all the muscles in the body every heart beat, regardless to how many of them are consuming. So if we were able to exercise at 100% our max heart rate we would be limited to consuming 150 calories per 10 minutes at the same 140 pounds of body weight. This may sound good until you consider how much more could be consumed if we could recruit more muscles simultaneously.
Over the last several decades, the major improvements to the horizontal exercises and horizontal-based apparatuses have still remained limited to only being able to activate the same few muscles or muscle chains at any given time, and because of the nature of horizontal exercise, the parasympathetic nervous system is in charge of the body's functions and resources.
Within the last half decade, it has been proven that for exercise done on a vertical surface with only you being the means of attachment and your torso positioned in such a manner that the torso cannot get directly over a horizontal support (such as the feet, hands, both, or between two or more), and therefore cannot establish and recognize horizontal stability. With the forced incorporation of at least one upper limb to maintain the body's position in space (such as one finger), for more than an instant/momentary period of time, the body will then physically confirm an ongoing threat to equilibrium, go into a defensive neurological response and shift into the sympathetic nervous system to take over the functions and responses of the body until the threat is terminated. This sympathetic response trigger by vertical exercise was confirmed using a Polar rs800CX and R-R recorder to conduct time domain heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. This sympathetic response is similar to the flight or fight responses, but without the negative cortisol and adrenal responses and side effects. The clean sympathetic response has been found to be uniquely produced while doing proper and controlled vertical exercise, and has tremendous benefits when it is possible to do it regularly and several times per week for months. But a traditional apparatus does not have the required geometry to allow the user to use it long term without reaching a point where it begins to hurt or injure critical joints and forces the user to terminate use.
A very positive effect of proper vertical exercise is the sympathetic response to the constant physical threat to equilibrium and the involuntary activation of the vast majority of the 600+ motor muscles in the body. The voluntary activation of a muscle doing horizontal exercise is directly linked to the simultaneous recruitment of muscles required for the movement. However, the sympathetic response experienced when doing proper vertical exercise can activate muscles independent of any recruitment of muscle. “Activation” is the muscle being turned on (neurological connection established) but not put into use or motion, and “recruitment” is when the muscle is put into action or use by either extension of contraction. Activation is like a vehicle engine being turned on and idling, and recruitment being the engine put into gear and pressure being applied to the accelerator causing movement or forces to be produced.
Like an engine running idle, the activated muscles on call made ready for action are burning energy, fuel in the vehicle and glucose in the body. In turn, all the activated motor muscles are consuming at least a measurable amount calories per minute or while activated without much of an elevation of heart rate when physically shifted into the sympathetic nervous system.
Referring back to the flight or fight response, the nervous system is shifted into the sympathetic nervous system starting with an emotional trigger or assumption that there is a threat. While the conscious mind assumes the threat is real, the blind and deaf autonomic nervous system fights going sympathetic and pushes back into the parasympathetic because it cannot physically confirm a threat with a loss of body fluid, temperature change or loss of balance, to cite just a few neurological conditions constantly monitored by the body. The emotional assumption of the conscious mind pushes back again into the sympathetic, and back and forth until there is a physical confirmation of a real physical threat. Once the threat is physically confirmed, the sympathetic response stays constant until the threat is then confirmed terminated. But an emotionally triggered sympathetic response is accompanied with a negative adrenal response and increase of alpha amylase and cortisol, along with many other negative effects that can last minutes if not days after the fight-or-flight experience. The depth or level of sympathetic response is also limited by the nervous system's central governing control working to preserve resources every way possible.
On the opposite side of the sympathetic nervous system, lithe sympathetic response is triggered first only by a confirmed physical threat with no emotional influence, the sympathetic response is clean and free of the negative adrenal response, increased alpha amylase and cortisol, and other negative side effects. In contrast, the physically triggered sympathetic response is immediate and at a higher level, and produces positive benefits related to the conditioning of the body and neuromuscular re-education.
Currently available devices that vertical exercise can be practiced with, while evolving, are lacking in many ways. Existing vertical exercise apparatus can cause sympathetic responses, but the sustainability of the modality is limited by the design and configuration leading to musculoskeletal performance and ergonomic detriments that can lead to injury over time.
Existing vertical exercise apparatuses do not consider or accommodate the subtle and vast differences from person to person using the apparatus. The height of a person, the distance between joints and torso length, and range of motion for a muscle and a chain of muscle all differ from person to person. The amount of joint extension, flexion, hyperextension, supination, pronation, rotation, circumduction, adduction and abduction during body movements vary between people and have a large effect on the longevity of the practice of vertical exercise and the potential benefits versus the risks.
These characteristics of typical vertical exercise apparatus limit the performance and potential benefits that can be enjoyed from proper and sustainable vertical exercise. Current vertical exercise apparatus have no ergonomic adjustability, and the range between low and high intensity exercise potential is also limited. The support surfaces and handles are not shaped correctly for the human body and cannot be utilized for long periods of time without pain or injury to the practitioner. Over time the joint and connective tissue strain experienced on typical apparatus forces the practitioner to discontinue use of the apparatus due to pain or injury caused by the incorrect joint positions or compression points the practitioner is forced to endure.
The foregoing example of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.